Two
more hearings required for BarnwoodTown
Board, Plan Commission to vote

By Kelly Smith - Special to The Freeman

Jan. 2, 2018

TOWN OF LISBON —
Two additional public hearings have been scheduled for the
controversial 52-lot Barnwood Conservancy residential development
near the corner of Lake Five and Silver Springs roads.

The Plan
Commission will conduct a hearing on Jan. 11 at 6:30 p.m. regarding
the creation of a special planned unit development district that
would include the development site. The commission may vote on a
recommendation to the Town Board regarding the district.

The Town Board
will hold a public hearing on the formation of the district on Jan.
22, also at 6:30 p.m. in Town Hall.

The board must
create the development district before final approval can be granted
to the developers, according to Town Attorney Kathryn Gutenkunst.

The special
development district is required based on an opinion issued in
November by Gutenkunst’s law partner James Hammes of the firm
Cramer, Multhauf and Hammes, which has represented the town for
decades.

Hammes believes
that some conditional use permits and planned unit developments
require a series of votes from the board.

Those votes
include adopting a zoning change, approving changes in the
long-range land use plan, creating the special district and
approving a conditional use permit for the development.

The zoning
change was adopted by the board earlier this year. The conditional
use permit was approved by the Plan Commission at a Dec. 7 meeting.

The town’s
decisions regarding rezoning and creating the special district are
subject to review by the Waukesha County Board, which could take at
least two months, according to county officials.

About 40
neighbors who live in subdivisions adjacent to the development site
have raised objections about the development, arguing there are many
lots that are too small, the development will increase traffic
hazards, endanger well water resources, and add noise and light
pollution in the neighborhoods.

While nearly all
the lots in the adjoining subdivisions are approximately one acre,
39 of the lots of the Barnwood Conservancy are less than one acre,
between 30,000 and 35,000 square feet.